Publicity: Naomi Wooden
In her latest exposure column, art director Gem Fletcher introduces the work of Naomi Wood, who explores the complexities of motherhood in her series I Wake To Listen
Naomi Wood documented her intimate relationship with her son Charlie for two years. In contrast to the sanitary and often one-dimensional depictions of motherhood in culture, Wood's images are primal, beautiful, chaotic, painful, and worldly. They draw an emotional journey as well as a physical one. Wood's work upholds the contradictions and complexities of motherhood, both liberation and struggle, joy and epic self-sacrifice.
In a static caravan in the middle of nature that Wood and her partner moved into to save money on buying a house, the series is marked by a transition of all kinds. The photographs perfectly capture the destabilizing reality of life, which is marked by relentless feeds, the discomfort of changing identity, and the overwhelming instinct to protect and nurture.